Baronial Transition 2022

The fifth Baron and Baroness of the Cleftlands, Crispin and Gianna, announced in December 2021 that they would not seek to poll again to continue as baronial coronets for the Cleftlands. Polling under the seneschal Claricia de la Mere took place in February. The baronial investiture took place in April 2022.

Seven people bravely stepped forward for consideration for the position of Baron and/or Baroness of the Cleftlands:

• Maestra Aurelia Rosetti and The Honorable Lord Pietro Nicolo da San Tebaldo
• Lord Cadfan of the Autumn Wood and Lady Miriana of Cleftlands
• Master Dmitrii Zhirov and Dame Elizabethe Alles
• Lady Zofia der Kinder

Each of the candidates was asked to prepare a letter to the populace:

From Aurelia and Pietro

Unto the Populace of the Cleftlands, greetings.

We would like to submit our names for consideration as Baron and Baroness of the Cleftlands, and thus hereafter present our qualifications. First, may we acquaint you with our history, and with the signs of service and esteem bestowed upon us.

I am the honorable Lord Pietro Niccolo da San Tebaldo. I discovered the Society while I was still in high school and joined the Cleftlands in A.S. 19. I was baronial Pursuivant and a Herald-at-Large, I have served as Cleftlands Seneschal, and I have been the baronial Arts & Sciences Champion, twice baronial Rapier Champion, and seven times an Event Steward. I practice and have taught a broad range of arts, I have fought in the Cleftlands’ armored combat unit, and I fight upon the rapier lists and fields as a member of that Baronial unit.

I am a companion of the kingdom orders of the Evergreen, the Willow and the Cavendish Knot, and am a principal of the baronial order of the Azure Chalice. I hold the kingdom awards of the Purple Fret and the King’s Chalice, and have received a Royal Augmentation of Arms.

These offices and these tokens are the fruit of thirty years in service to, and fellowship within, the barony of the Cleftlands. I’ve been a participant here since 1984. Save for a short time at the College of Coeur d’Or as was (Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh) I am, and have always been, a Cleftlander.

I now hand the pen to my lady wife so that she may introduce herself.

I am Mistress Aurelia Rosetti, Companion of the Orders of the Laurel, of the Evergreen, and of the Willow, Recipient of the Award of the Purple Fret, and holder of a Royal Augmentation of Arms. I first arrived in Cleftlands in 1998, A.S. 33, and after a hiatus out of Kingdom, returned to Cleftlands in 2014. Throughout that time, I have always considered Cleftlands my home.

My focus has been the Arts and Sciences community, as I am an oil painter in the Renaissance tradition. I have served the Cleftlands and the Midrealm as A&S War Point Champion, Scribe, and Baronial A&S Champion. My profound desire during this time has been to champion the arts and sciences within the Society, encouraging and modeling the study and excellence of research and experimentation within these areas.

As we both approach the consideration of this position, we would like to present you with our sincere hope for the Barony as it moves forward in these challenging times:

To us, the Society is our community. It is one vision and also many, shared by friends throughout the Known World. Each individual chooses their best vision of the Society, and moves forward toward their goals. The cook in the kitchen is fulfilling their vision just as rightly as the knight on the field, or the bard on the stage.

These years of plague have proved difficult, as you know well, and for those of us who remember a time before the plague. We long to return to those days, but know the road back will be long and hard, and we must be cautious as we venture back in person, to keep those we love safe.

However, an exuberance awaits for that day when we can return and once again see smiling faces without restrictions. We look forward to and plan for that day as well. In fencing, action takes place “within measure”, but the time “out of measure” is a time for consideration and planning. So this time out of measure, as we limit our in-person activities and explore new ways to employ the Paths Ethereal, is a time to reconsider the strengths and weaknesses of the Society. We must decide what we wish to encourage and create for a brighter Society when we return. We all have had plenty of time out of measure, and we are certain that those citizens of the Barony long for the return to the community as well.

We thank you for your consideration and for hearing our words.

We remain Your most humble and obedient servants,

Mistress Aurelia Rosetti and The Honorable Lord Pietro da San Tebaldo

From Cadfan and Miriana

Unto the most noble populace of the Barony of the Cleftlands do we, Lord Cadfan of the Autumn Wood and Lady Miriana of Cleftlands send warmest greetings.

Dear friends,

At this time of transition we put forth our names for consideration to be the sixth Baron and Baroness of the Cleftlands. We do this because of our great adoration for the Barony and all it has given us over our years of calling this most wonderful of places home.

We are enthusiastically in love with our community. We are students of the deep cultural facets and history of Cleftlands. Every day we are enchanted by the deeds that are done, the stories that are told, the songs that are sung, and the words that are written about it. It is together that we forge the Cleftlands community to make it a place welcoming to everyone, where everyone’s interests are encouraged, and everyone’s accomplishments are celebrated.

Under the azure and argent nebuly have we served you as seneschal, as chatelaine, as archery champion, as arts and sciences champion, as Baronial archery marshal, as needleworkers guildmistress, as event steward, as scribe, as heralds, as water bearers, as archers, and as combatants upon the armored and rapier fields. We have also committed ourselves to the quieter things: Leaving at midnight after cleaning up from Regular Event, or the late afternoon after Northern Oaken War Maneuvers; assisting with tear down at other groups’ events; being a friendly guidepost for newcomers; stepping in to fill gaps where there is a need. We have shared our practiced arts freely both in classes and one-on-one so that we may spread what knowledge and skill we have.

As true servants of the Cleftlands do we seek to be the next Baron and Baroness because we see the roles as positions of service. The duty of the Baron and Baroness is to represent the populace to the Crown, and also to represent the Crown to the populace when the need arises. It is also their duty to promote the Barony as a whole and nurture the myriad interests of the populace in all of their fields of activity. We believe that our wide breadth of activity within the Society allows us to recognize the contributions of everyone in the Barony.

The last two years have been difficult for everyone. Events and weekly meetings have been reduced in number as the Barony tries to mitigate the spread of the pandemic. The next Baron and Baroness will need to find ways to keep the populace engaged with the Barony and the wider Knowne World until such time as we can truly return to a place of normalcy. We have participated in, and hosted, online guild meetings, arts and sciences demonstrations, Baronial courts, officer meetings, and virtual classes. We would continue to promote and further efforts such as these even as we look forward to the future.

In Service to the Cleftlands,

Lord Cadfan of the Autumn Wood and Lady Miriana of Cleftlands

From Dmitrii and Elizabethe

Unto Their Royal Majesties, King Ullr and Queen AnneLyse; Their Excellencies, Baron Crispin and Baroness Gianna; and the officers and populace of the noble Barony of the Cleftlands; Master Dmitrii Zhirov and Dame Elizabethe Alles send greetings. We humbly submit our names to you as candidates for the next Baron and Baroness of the Cleftlands.

We have both been involved in the Society for more than twenty years, and have lived and served inside and outside of the Cleftlands. We have both served as officers at the local, regional, and Kingdom level, and worked on many events in different positions. We have attached resumes summarizing our accomplishments within the Society.

As officers and Peers, we have experience providing wise counsel to the Crown, as well as communicating the decisions of the Crown, Society, or higher officers to the wider populace. In the modern world, Elizabethe has professional training and 9+ years of experience in people management in areas that would be SCA-applicable: conflict resolution, customer service, communication, appreciation/recognition, and working with diverse individuals. Dmitrii has managed several technical implementation projects, and is well-acquainted with organizational dynamics and change management, with 16 years of employment in the public sector. We both have taken multiple classes in the SCA to further educate ourselves on areas now receiving greater Societal focus, such as accessibility, diversity, equity, and inclusion issues.

We both believe the most important duty of the Baron and Baroness is to enhance the dream of the SCA for their local populace. We intend to lead with joy and appreciation, recognizing the talents and abilities of the members of the Cleftlands, and spreading their wordfame throughout the Society. We would also work to strengthen our relationships with our neighboring Shires and Baronies to encourage greater collaboration. We desire to balance honoring the valued traditions of the Cleftlands with encouraging new and innovative ideas. We want to collaborate with the officers and populace of the Barony to make the Cleftlands an exciting place to be, regardless of anyone’s particular interest, as we emerge from this global pandemic.

Yours in service, Master Dmitrii Zhirov and Dame Elizabethe Alles

From Zofia

Good members of the populous of Cleftlands and Your Majesties, I pray you are well. I, Lady Zofia der Kinder, am but a humble mother doing her best to promote the welfare of our strange little village and I come before you without the illustrious list of accomplishments so many of you have. My interest in being your Baroness is borne of a desire to have a formal way of being recognized as an official matriarch in such august company, that I may foster even more of our numbers into ever more greatness. I also am putting my hat into this poll as a way of supporting my firstborn son, Lord Yang Bing-Xin, as so many of you have supported him, since he is not quite old enough to put his name in to be your Baron independently. Through the good tutelage of so many of you, he is growing into a fine young man that I am deeply proud of and I believe would server our community well as Baron as he is interested in doing. The main barrier is that linear time does not concur – he will not turn 18 until the end of May. I would be honored to serve as his regent and then co-leader if doing such would bring joy and thriving to our populous. My vision for the barony is that we develop the inherent greatness, which each individual comes to Cleftands already bearing, into the exceptional wonderment I’ve seen being developed in each of you, and in my children alongside you. I also would very much enjoy the opportunity to be the one bestowing awards in court upon the blessed worthies among us, as I thrill at seeing the joy in each one of you when your efforts are recognized and commended.

Mundanely, I am a master’s level Sociologist by training, with a specific focus on socialization processes and family development. I have specific skills in survey design and implementation that I would love to put to use in service of our Society in any way possible. My family is also working to launch an educational support non-profit in the very near future, to facilitate atypical learners achieving their academic aspirations including fostering more youth into taking advantage of Ohio’s College Credit Plus program, which has paid for all 120 college credits my firstborn son will have earned before his 18th birthday, when he expects to have his Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Leadership conferred by Cleveland State, where he also plans to attend law school starting in Fall 2023. My second son is also utilizing that opportunity to earn a college degree before finishing high school, he is on track to have his Associate of Arts in Applied Business Accounting from Tri-C this August as part of the 3+1 partnership with Franklin University for a B.S. in Forensic Accounting. I have deep roots in Cuyahoga County, being the fourth generation of my matrilineal line born here then marrying into a family whose first language was not English. My children and I are very much of the “grow well where you are planted” mindset and have no intention of ever living elsewhere. We have been a three-generation household with my husband’s parents since 2006, and it is my greatest hope that I will always live in a multigenerational home. We are so very blessed to live in an area where that is feasible.

I trust that whomever the populous and Their Majesties select to serve in this role will do so with great honor and joy, and I will experience no hurt if I am not selected for this position. This is simply a request to let me love you all up in ways reciprocal to how I have felt my family loved by so many of you over the years. Regardless of the decision, based on the guidance that I may continue to do so in a dual capacity, I will also still be the North Oaken Regional Minister of Youth. I just could not let the opportunity pass by to offer myself, and my family alongside me, in whatever official or unofficial capacities we may be of use to our beloved Cleftlands.